Charcoal fired cookers having grilling, steaming and smoking capabilities are known in the prior art exemplified by U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,299,800; 3,776,127; 4,094,295; and 4,300,444. The prior art cookers of this type have some deficiencies, mainly in terms of lacking the degree of convenience of use and simplicity of construction demanded by the average user. Accordingly, it is the objective of the present invention to provide a cooking apparatus of the mentioned type of greater simplicity of construction and convenience of use compared to the prior art, and also possessing greater versatility in terms of diverse operations, namely, grilling, roasting, steaming and smoking of meat products and the like.
The present invention achieves its primary objectives of greater convenience of use and greater versatility through provision of a self-standing charcoal pan and water pan assembly having support legs for both pans, and from which legs the water pan is readily liftable to enable direct fire grilling of foods. The same support legs form a base for a cylindrical body or shell of the cooker which contains two food racks at different elevations in the shell, the racks being supported on bracket elements attached to the shell side wall. The shell containing the two food racks can be lifted easily from the legs of the self-standing charcoal pan and water pan assembly to allow ready access to both pans and to allow quick removal of foods from the two racks within the shell. The arrangement greatly increases the convenience of use of the cooking apparatus and adds to its versatility of usage.
Other aspects and advantages of the invention will be made apparent to those skilled in the art during the course of the following detailed description.